Thursday, August 26, 2010

We've been seeing some bits in the news lately about our 'Dexter' action figure being sold at Toys R Us, and rather than ignore what we feel is an unnecessary reaction, we thought it best to address what we feel is a double standard.

To clarify, Dexter is not a serial killer. He is a fictional character that happens to be a serial killer. In his fiction, he is a portrayed as a vigilante who kills bad people. The action figure we manufacturer of Dexter is marketed towards adults and is clearly labeled Adults Only 18+, Not Intended for Children. This would be different if Dexter was a real-live serial killer, but he's not. Again, he's a fictional character.

There are many examples of fictional characters that kill, and many of those characters are sold and specifically marketed towards children, unlike our Dexter products. For Example:

1. Edward Cullen, from the biggest story of the past few years - The Twilight Saga, is a murderer. He is actually a Barbie doll, and Mattel specifically markets this doll to children.

2. Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader is a mass murderer. He blew up an entire planet, exterminating billions of men, women and children in Star Wars: A New Hope. He also mass murdered Tusken Raiders in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and killed a young Jedi in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Star Wars toys are specifically marketed towards children.

3. The Joker, one of the most famous and beloved villains of all time from Batman, is a mass murderer. Joker toys are explicitly marketed towards children, We don't recall any uproar over millions of Joker figures being sold from 'The Dark Knight', where the body count was quite high for his victims.

4. And the list goes on and on. G.I. Joe (and their guns?), Aliens, The Terminator, etc.

All of the above fictional characters are sold at toy stores across the United States. The only difference is that our Dexter action figures are specifically labeled and clearly marketed towards adults only, while the other fictional characters are marketed towards children.